For those of us who do finally make it to the mountain, few of us return.

This is not surprising, given the snow - for us newbies - is often an expensive exercise in humiliation.

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We pay to be bruised and battered and cold while children, who surely are barely walking, zip past like pros.

It's enough to send you straight to the Alpine bar for a pre-midday mulled wine before you wish good riddance to the treacherous mountain (molehill) forever.

Making the learning experience easier has been the mission of South Australian Dave "Max" Elphick, an adrenalin-junkie who used to run surf shops.

In what has been a a labour of love, 20 years ago Elphick built a prototype Cross Board modelled on skateboards. The original looked remarkably like a skateboard atop a miniature sleigh.

He continued refining the Cross Board, designed to aid balancing and to catch fewer edges in the snow. Along with making learning on a board less terrifying, he wanted to create something that skate lovers, like himself, could play with on ice.

"Cross Board provides a new free flowing experience in the snow," Elphick says. "It integrates the ride style of skateboarding and surfing."

The board comprises of a wide snowboard and bindings fixed to two mobile plates. Finally, over the weekend, Elphick and business partner Bryan Te Wani, a former sales director at Red Bull, launched Cross Board.

As a beginner, the Cross Board feels a bit like being on a wobble board at first. It's not until the second day of having a play that I start to appreciate the board's flexibility - on flats, I can tic-tac along, skateboard-style. Sort of.

I ask a few people far more pro than myself about the usability. Some love it while others are less convinced.

Elphick says it's the perfect learner's board. For more experienced snowboarders it's good for icier conditions and for playing with skater-style tricks. He will stick to a snowboard in powder.

It's unlikely to overtake snowboarding, which became an officially recognised sport in 1985.

If the Cross Board gets more scaredy-cats like me upright, up the mountain, then it can only be a good thing.

By the end of day two, I still have my stack-hat on and toddlers are still whizzing by. But I've found my feet, am less of a liability and stack-hat aside, my dignity and limbs are intact.